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"Asie Payton" will never be changed
by fame. He'll never be lured away from playing his own style
of music. His one and only CD, care of Fat Possum Records, is
10 tracks of gritty, raw, backwoods, visceral, pain and torment.
It is some of the muddiest Mississippi river water to rain down
on my ears in decades. Payton plays blues so pure in emotion,
the ache of it is palpable.
Payton is no slouch when it comes to strumming
out the hunger for his woman. His vocal marriage with his guitar
produces a rhythm and harmony that sends a beat straight up the
spine. "I Love You" is an ambling strut which very
clearly provides a sexual backbeat to his simple declarative
vocals. The keyboard, and Sam Carr's driving percussion, will
get your shoulders moving if nothing else.
Payton delivers his anguish without Kafkaesque
heebie-jeebies. "Worried," the title track, is a wail
of Boogie Woogie - raspy and real. You think you've got worries.
Listen to this man.
"All I Need Is You" and "Come
Home With Me" slip-slide their ways straight down the spine,
bumping and grating on little bits of Mississippi sand all the
way. Two more cat's tongue licks are the slow hum of reverie,
"Nobody But You," which glides down like mercury sliding
over a pane of glass. Lazy, honey sticky sweet, Asie gets lost
in his trance of affection and devotion. Coming out of his trance,
he slithers into "Please Tell Me You Love Me" - 2 1/2
minutes of a call for reciprocation. Even slower, and lower,
and despite the plea for a return of affection, it's a much more
internalized piece. The pace drops down, slow and clear, like
the shallows in the river away from the muddy shore.
A complete turn around in pace and energy
is "Asie's Jam." Here's the grit! Grinding strumming,
heavy bass, a strong percussion, and Asie punctuating it all,
vocally and instrumentally. If this cut doesn't sate the need
for pure blues, listen to "Can't Be Satisfied." The
boogie woogie backbeat yields to screeches and howls of frustration.
"Well, now it's three o'clock in the mornin'/ And I can't
even close my eyes." "Skinny Legs & All" is
an upbeat measure of blues funk! Sharp, unforgiving, and unapologetic
old time blues.
"I Love You - Solo" is a reprise
of the first cut. Payton does his own accompaniment on this one.
Nothing fancied up. No driving beat. No glissandos on the keyboard.
Just the essence of the song. Simple! There is no spite in his
music. Despite the pain in Payton's life - life is life. It happens,
and it so happens that Payton's music will never change, because
Payton passed away May 19, 1997 in Holly Ridge, Mississippi,
where he lived, played his music and finally died. This is the
only recording done of his work. True blues aficionados owe it
to themselves to check this out. |
